US attorney resigns, said to be eyeing PA gov. run

July 08, 2008

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan announced his resignation on Monday, and a state GOP leader said the prosecutor is preparing to run for governor in 2010.

Meehan, who as chief federal prosecutor for southeastern Pennsylvania cracked down on government corruption, was named by President Bush to the federal post nearly seven years ago. He said at a Monday afternoon news conference that he plans to go into private practice after his last day, July 15.

Meehan is preparing to run for governor and Monday’s announcement capped months of debate among his advisers over the timing of his resignation, said an influential state Republican leader familiar with the discussions. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he has not publicly taken sides in what could be a competitive primary race.

At the news conference, Meehan said he didn’t want to discuss whether he was considering a gubernatorial run. But he also didn’t rule it out, saying: “If an opportunity, the appropriate opportunity, for public service is there at some point in time, I will be able to consider that.”

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He said his top priorities were preparing the office for the transition to an acting U.S. attorney and getting acclimated to his new job. He said it’s not unnatural that he would leave the office now, given that he’s among the longest serving of President Bush’s appointed prosecutors.

Meehan, 52, was sworn into his current post in 2001, six days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a day before the anthrax-by-mail scare began. He oversees an office of some 200 lawyers who handle all the civil and criminal federal cases in Philadelphia and eight other southeastern Pennsylvania counties.

When he first opened the door to his new office overlooking historic Independence Hall, Meehan recalled, “what struck me at that point was this is a job that comes with some grave responsibility (and) also is a job that was significantly different than what you might have expected just a few days before Sept. 11.”

“As I leave here today my solemn hope is that my response as U.S. attorney has done that view the justice it deserves,” he said.

His tenure saw more than a dozen convictions stemming from a federal probe that became public when police discovered an FBI bug in then-Mayor John F. Street’s office in October 2003. Street was never charged, but several confidants, two bank executives and the city treasurer were put away.

Meehan’s office is also prosecuting one of the state Senate’s most powerful figures, outgoing Democratic Sen. Vincent Fumo.

Another party leader, Philadelphia GOP chairman Vito Canuso, said he expects Meehan will seek the Republican nomination to replace the term-limited Democratic governor, Ed Rendell.

“He is definitely a qualified, capable and attractive candidate,” he said, noting that 2010 primary is still nearly two years away.

That experience and Meehan’s name recognition in southeastern Pennsylvania would work to his advantage in a governor’s race, said Terry Madonna, a pollster and professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

“He would move to the forefront as one of the top Republican candidates, without a doubt,” Madonna said.

Other potential gubernatorial candidates include state Attorney General Tom Corbett.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid will take over as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Meehan was elected Delaware County district attorney in 1995.

He was almost immediately thrust into the prosecution of high-profile murder suspect John DuPont. Heir to his family’s multimillion-dollar chemical fortune, DuPont was convicted of the 1996 shooting death of Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz.

Meehan received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, where he was a hockey standout, and was a National Hockey League on-ice official for several years.

He graduated from Temple University law school. Before becoming a prosecutor, he worked as a corporate lawyer and an aide to Specter.

“Pat Meehan has done an excellent job as U.S. attorney. He has established himself as one of the best in a long line of distinguished lawyers who have held that important position,” Specter said in a statement.

“Considering the fact that the president’s term is coming to an end, it is understandable that he is looking to a career change.”